Raw Caramel Apples

apples awaiting their caramelly fate

Whew, mini camera emergency. I was taking a million pictures of these beautiful little apples, I stuck the sticks into them, and was taking a bunch more pictures, and poof! "Battery exhausted." Why does it get exhausted? I feel like that's a weird way to put it and I have that thought every time it happens. After a moment of panic and more than a couple of moments rummaging through boxes, I found the cord to charge the camera. Whew, crisis averted. Onto making some caramel apples. Raw caramel apples free of refined sugar! That may not sound great to you, but for those in the know, they know that dates make an amaaazing caramel sauce. And also, you don't have to cook date caramel! Now, caramel is one of my all-time favorite things, don't get me wrong, but usually it's sticky, makes a mess, and takes quite a long while. Not this time. Super quick and only uses one kitchen tool-- a food processor. You can also do this with a blender, just take a little more time, add a little more water, and scrape down the sides a lot. This is where I got to put into play my birthday present! It was my birthday on Saturday.

vegan oreo cake from Whole Foods!

I had a fun day hanging out with family, going swimming-- an all time dream of mine, to go swimming on my birthday!-- and eating some delicious beans my honey cooked, along with some homemade tortillas-- recipe for those coming later.

Homemade tortillas and Sam's amazing beans

pretty peppers, while Sam was chopping veggies to make the beans

Anyway, my father-in-law got me the most thoughtful gift! A Ninja Kitchen System. It's awesome. So far, it whips out a mean pumpkin spice tea coconut oil latte,

yummy coconut oil pumpkin spice latte-- just blend a tablespoon of coconut oil with a strong cup of pumpkin  spice tea until creamy... so yum

.... and makes the best banana ice cream ice ever had. 
 

so good

yum! check out how creamy that is!

It can also make this delicious caramel sauce. As I am typing this, I'm attempting to get the last bit of caramel out of the mug I dipped the apples in. I've already had to wash my face and hands once. It's delicious.

Date Caramel

1 cup dates
1 tablespoon peanut butter (raw if you want to keep things raw)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water/non-dairy milk
apples on sticks (I used kabob sticks because that's all I could find--you'd think the stores would have sticks right by the apples this time of year, but not that I saw)
other yummy toppings, if desired-- chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

Whir together in a food processor until a smooth paste is formed-- a couple of minutes. Scoop out into a bowl (or large mug) and dunk your apples in. Coat in extra yummies if you want. I'm kind of a caramel apple purist, but other toppings are good too, sometimes.

swirly caramel goodness

 

Mac and Cheese, St. Patty's Day Style!

 

May you always have...
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain  

Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.

And green vegan macaroni and cheese for St. Patrick's Day, if that's what you desire!

So, I talked about my new mac and cheese the other day, and here it is! You can make this sauce as is, or, like I did today, you can make it green! This would be a perfect dinner to have with kids for St. Patrick's Day! Or lunch by yourself at your office. Or at home, like me! This cheesy sauce is also great on nachos!

 You can take it to go for lunch -- or just pack individual jars for easy prep.

Alrighty, down to the nitty gritty.....

The original recipe for this sauce comes from Bold Vegan. I was looking for a new cheesy sauce, since my other one, from Fat Free Vegan, includes onion and garlic powder. It really is delicious though, so try i if you can! Anyhoo, this one from Bold Vegan originally included onion, too but I think it's super tasty this way. I've made a couple of changes to make it to my taste -- a bit thicker and more healthy.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups potato, roughly chopped
• 1 cup carrot, chopped
• 2.5 cups water
• 0.5 cup nutritional yeast
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons oat flour, to thicken
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 0.5 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 big handfuls (about 4 cups) fresh spinach, if you want it green!

Directions

•  Add your water, potatoes, and carrots to a pot, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
• When they're done, add the whole bit to a blender (including the water). Add the rest of the ingredients (except the spinach) and blend until super creamy, about 2 minutes.
• If you want it green, add the spinach and blend until smooth -- I did this in 2 steps: one handful, blend, 2nd handful, blend. 
• You really can't taste the spinach, which makes it great for kids! If you're sensitive to how vegetables taste, you may notice a bit of "green" but it's really good, I promise! The spinach will make it a bit more thin, so you can decrease the water or increase the oat flour if you want. I used about 3/4 cup of sauce for 2 cups of cooked pasta.

And here it is without the spinach. Perfect, cheesy color! (The little specks you can see are because my blender is on the fritz, it's normally completely smooth)

Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day celebrations everyone!

Yogurt Review!

So I went to Whole Foods a little while ago and got some vegan yogurt. I'd only ever tried non-dairy yogurt once, so I got a couple of different ones to try. Greek Style So Delicious Chocolate, WholeSoy Lemon, and Amande Coconut. 

Sorry for the eh picture, I took it quickly and then ate the yogurt, so.... They were all pretty high in calories, but I figured, if it's good, it'll be worth it. The So Delicious was... not good in my opinion. The Greek Style-ness was weirdly thick and it didn't really taste like chocolate. The Amande was pretty good, but I didn't think it was super special. Anyway, the best by far was the WholeSoy Lemon-- it is amazing! It's creamy and lemon-y and all around great. I had it with fruit, and it's especially good with pineapple and blueberries. So seriously, if you're looking for some tangy vegan creaminess, this is the way to go. So go ahead, enjoy!

Mmm, Mocha Coconut

It is the season of the Mocha Coconut Frap at Starbucks. I don't go often (a couple of times a year probably) but ever since I tried this flavor, my plan is to try to go at least once in the summer for the Mocha Coconut. I actually hadn't tried it until I went vegan, but I was looking up Starbucks vegan options last year on veggieboards.com and found that people love it! I'm not normally a mocha or coconut fan, so I was surprised it even sounded good, but I tried it and I was hooked! Just make sure to order it with soy milk, without the whip or chocolate drizzle to make it vegan!

They have a coupe of vegan snack options too, like roasted nuts, fruit chews (yes, they're vegan!) and some crazy-good salt and pepper popcorn. So this morning I'm hanging out at Starbucks, blogging, and enjoying my Mocha Coconut Frap and popcorn!